Weather seal for railway car door

ABSTRACT

A weather seal for a railway car door is secured to outer peripheral flat edges of the door and is adapted to engage a door frame in sealing relation. The weather seal includes a tubular flexible member which is secured to the peripheral edge of the door by means of fasteners adapted to permit flexing and biasing movement of the tubular member. The fasteners are in turn connected to a peripherally extending flange of a relatively hard material such as metal, hard plastic, etc., having a flat surface which engages the peripheral flange of a door opening and against which the flat strip is compressed in sealing relation when the door is closed.

United States Patent [191 Nagy et al.

[ Dec. 11, 1973 WEATHER SEAL FOR RAILWAY CAR DOOR 2,943,825 7/1960 Lane 49/492 X Primary Examiner-Mervin Stein Assistant Examiner-Philip C. Kannan Attorney-J-lilmond O. Vogel et al.

[57] ABSTRACT A weather seal for a railway car door is secured to outer peripheral flat edges of the door and is adapted to engage a door frame in sealing relation. The weather seal includes a tubular flexible member which is secured to the peripheral edge of the door by means of fasteners adapted to permit flexing and biasing movement of the tubular member. The fasteners are in turn connected to a peripherally extending flange of a relatively hard material such as metal, hard plastic, etc., having a flat surface which engages the peripheral flange of a door opening and against which the flat strip is compressed in sealing relation when the door is closed.

1 Claim, 4 Drawing Figures PATENTED DEC 1 1 I975 SHEET 1 [1F 2 MENTEI] DEC 1 I I975 SHEET 2 CF 2 1 WEATHER SEAL FOR RAILWAY CAR DOOR BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The field of art to which this invention pertains is railway box car doors having weather seals connected thereto for sealing the door opening of a box car.

2. Description of the Prior Art The present invention pertains particularly to laterally movable doors which are moved over and into the door opening of a railway car. Cars of this type generally are provided with weather seals fastened to door flanges and are peripherally co-extensive therewith. The weather stripping or weather seals generally are of a flexible construction such as rubber or plastic which engage the door frame for sealing the same against the entrance of rain, dirt, etc. Door seals of this type may include generally tubular fexible members compressed between the door and frame. The prior art includes U.S. Pat. Nos. 562,001; 871,216; 2,102,578; 3,371,445, and 3,452,481. Railway car doors and seals must be able to withstand the most severe climatic conditions and the prior art weather seals have not been particularly satisfactory in cold weather operation. It has been found that the seals, due to ice and snow conditions, have a tendency to freeze or adhere to the door frame and upon opening of the door laterally outwardly such seals will tear and, therefore, be destroyed. The present 'seal prevents such destruction while providing maximum sealing capability.

SUMMARY The primary object of the present invention is to provide an improved weather sealing arrangement for a railway car door. The arrangement comprises a tubular rubber-like seal member which is secured to the peripheral edge of a railway car door by means of studs permitting the seal member to flex and exert a biasing force. The studs also are connected to a peripherally extending strip or strap of a relatively hard and impervious material such as metal, plastic and the like, having a relatively flat surface engaging the rectangular flange of a door frame in sealing relation. The seal member exerts a resilient biasing force when the door is in a closed position to bias the sealing strip into sealing relation.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of a portion of a railway car side having a laterally movable door connected thereto;

FIG. 2 is a cross sectional view taken substantially along the line 2-2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged cross sectional view taken substantially along the line 33 of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 4 is a side elevational view of a portion of a railway car door taken substantially along the line of 4-4 of FIG. 2.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The present invention relates to laterally movable doors which may be slidingly moved along the side of a railway car and then laterally moved inwardly into closed relation with respect to a door opening of the car. The invention, though applicable to other door constructions, is particularly adapted to the type of door shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,653,153, Apr. 4, 1972. In FIG. 1 a railway ear side is designated at 10 and includes a door opening 11 formed by a frame generally designated at 12. The frame 12 comprises horizontally spaced upright door posts 13 having longitudinally extending flanges l4 and 15. The upper end of the frame is provided with an upper plate construction 16 which, as best shown in FIG. 1, has a downwardly vertical extending flange 17. The lower portion of the frame 12 is provided with a side sill 18 having an upwardly extending flange 19, as best shown in FIG. 1. The flanges l4, l5, l7 and 19 are interconnected to form the door opening 11.

A railway car door is generally designated at 20 and comprises lower and upper horizontal box-like structures 21. Vertical side box-like structures 22 are suitably connected to the structures 21 and a wall of sheathing 23 is rigidly secured to the structures 21 and 22. The structures 21 and 22 are substantially identical in shape, and, as best shown in FIG. 3, include an inward S-shaped member 24 having a flat flange surface 25. This surface 25 extends vertically and horizontally about the peripheral edge of the door 20 and has sup ported thereon a weather seal generally designated by reference character 26. The weather seal26 is of tubular cross section and includes inner and outer walls 27 and 28 integral with arcuate connector walls 32. The weather seal 26 is secured to the flat flange surface 25 and extends co-extensively around the entire peripheral edge of the door. A sealing strap or strip 29 also extends co-extensively with the weather seal 26 and is provided with a flat engaging surface 30 having at its outer edges curved portions 31 which, as best shown in FIG. 3, conform to the shape of the'weather seal 26.

The sealing strip 29 is preferably made of metal or of any durable impervious material such as hard plastic,

etc.

As best shown in FIG. 3, the weather seal 26 is secured to the outer peripheral edges 25 by means of fastener studs generally indicated at 33. The fastener studs 33 are spaced horizontally and vertically along the weather strip 26 and each includes a stem 34. As best shown in FIG. 3 and 4, the outer surface of the sealing strip 29 is provided with horizontally and vertically spaced dimples 35, having openings 36. The stem 34 of each of the fastener studs 33 is securely connected within the opening 36 and extends through an opening 37 provided in the wall 27 and through an opening 38 provided in the flange surface 25 of the S-shaped member 24. Each fastener 33 is provided-with spring retainer fingers 39 which form an enlargement at the end of the stem 34 preventing withdrawal of the studs 33 and serving to maintain the weather seal 26in a pretensioned state. I

Referring now to FIG. 1, a track 40 is secured to the side sill 18 below the door opening 11. Roller brackets 41 are slidable on the track 40. A left hand swivel bracket 41 is connected to an adjustable swivel support 42. The other roller bracket 41 is connected to a vertical shaft 43 rotatably secured to the door by means of brackets 44. The vertical shaft 43 is also provided with a lower conventional crank arm 45. An upper track 47 suitably connected to the upper plate 16 supports a roller 49 connected to an upper crank arm 48 in turn suitably and conventionally connected to the shaft 43. Another roller 46 supports the upper end of the door on the track 47. The operation of the crank arms and doors is conventional and is more fully set forth in the aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 3,653,153. Further, the door is secured in closed position by means of horizontal locking bars 50 and vertical locking bars 51 which are adapted to be slidably moved into suitable apertures in the door frame 12 in conventional fashion. A vertical actuating member 52 operates a gear box 53 which translates vertical movement into horizontal movementfor opening and closing the upper vertical and horizontal locking bars 50 and 51. An actuating rack and pinion mechanism 54 includes a manually movable operators handle 55 which serves to actuate the actuating member 52 and the lower horizontal and vertical locking bars 50 and 51. The actuating handle 55 also may be utilized to operate a linkage mechanism 56 connected to the vertical shaft 43 for moving the door at one end outwardly of the door opening so that it then may be rolled to an out-of-the-way position. This is more clearly disclosed in the aforementioned patent.

OPERATION In opening and closing the door the operation is conventional in that retraction of the locking bars 50 and 51 from the door frame permits the door to be moved to the open position. This is accomplished by actuation of the mechanism 54 which by rotation of the rod 43 and crank arms 45 and 48 moves the door outwardly from the position shown in FIG. 2 to an open position, whereupon the door may be moved to one side of the door frame. The reverse takes place, of course, for closing the door. In the closed position, as best shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the strap 30 is tightly biased against the flanges l4 and 15. Of course, it must be realized that while not shown in detail, the seal is co-extensive with flanges 14, 15, 17 and 19 and therefore the engagement with these flanges is the same. The biasing action of the weather seal 26 forces the flat surface 30 in sealing engagement with the flanges and prevents the entry of moisture, dirt, etc. In this closed position the weather seal 26 assumes an oval shape and the fingers 39 are moved a distance away from the inner surface of the flange 34. Thus, the weather seal 26 is free to provide a positive biasing action against the strap 30. When the doors move to an open position the weather seal is somewhat released since the stems 34, shown in FIG. 3, are now biased to the left (in FIG. 3) until the fingers 39 engage the flange 24 with the fingers 39 serving to stop further expanding movement of the weather seal 26. The weather seal is now held in this position until it is again compressed when the door is closed.

The curved flanges 31 also serve to protect the arcuate connecting walls 32 of the weather seal 26 from damage. Thus, the resilient weather seal 26 makes sealing contact with the flange surface 25 and the sealing strap 30,with its tight engagement with the flanges 14, l5, l7 and 19, makes sealing contact so that the entrance of dirt, moisture, etc. is prevented.

Since the strip 29 is constructed of a metal or other similar material, having toughness and imperviousness, the seal will retain its shape and will not become damaged when severe climatic conditions occur, such as icing, snow, etc., which tend to freeze the strip 29 to the door frame. With the application of the sealing strip 29, opening of the door will not cause damage to the sealing strip if frozen to the frame, but will merely break free without damage and again be in position for effective sealing when the door is again closed.

What is claimed is:

1. In a railway car having a door frame including a rectangular flat frame edge portion defining a door opening, a door for said opening including a rectangular door edge in the closed portion of said door conforming to and being spaced laterally outwardly with respect to said frame edge portion, the improvement of a weather seal comprising:

a flexible cylindrically shaped seal member of tubular cross section connected to said rectangular edge and being co-extensive therewith,

a relatively flat strip-like member connected to said seal member, said strip-like member comprising a relatively hard impervious material having a flat side engageable in sealing relation with the frame edge portion in the closed position of said door,

said seal member resiliently biasing said flat side into said sealing relation,

fastener means for connecting said weather seal to said edge portions, including:

a plurality of connector studs, each having a stem connected to said flat strip,

said seal member including laterally aligned first openings,

said door edge including second openings in registry with said first aligned openings,

said stems projecting laterally outwardly through said openings, and

stop means on each stem outwardly of said openings,

said stems having a length permitting limited inward and outward flexing movement of said seal member and in the closed position of said door biasing said flat side against the frame edge portion. 

1. In a railway car having a door frame including a rectangular flat frame edge portion defining a door opening, a door for said opening including a rectangular door edge in the closed portion of said door conforming to and being spaced laterally outwardly with respect to said frame edge portion, the improvement of a weather seal comprising: a flexible cylindrically shaped seal member of tubular cross section connected to said rectangular edge and being coextensive therewith, a relatively flat strip-like member connected to said seal member, said strip-like member comprising a rElatively hard impervious material having a flat side engageable in sealing relation with the frame edge portion in the closed position of said door, said seal member resiliently biasing said flat side into said sealing relation, fastener means for connecting said weather seal to said edge portions, including: a plurality of connector studs, each having a stem connected to said flat strip, said seal member including laterally aligned first openings, said door edge including second openings in registry with said first aligned openings, said stems projecting laterally outwardly through said openings, and stop means on each stem outwardly of said openings, said stems having a length permitting limited inward and outward flexing movement of said seal member and in the closed position of said door biasing said flat side against the frame edge portion. 